Monday 26 October 2015

UK Consumers are Buying More Wine on the Internet

A new report has shown the Ideal Wine Company that UK consumers are buying more wine online than ever before, as millennials increasingly come to appreciate our favourite tipple.

Future of wine buying


The World Wide Web has provided people with the tools they need to buy luxury products such as fine wine more easily than ever before. For example if you’re a fan of vintages from Burgundy, you can buy the Chambertin Potel 2005 online from the Ideal Wine Company for only £314.50. The internet is the future of wine buying. A study conducted by Wine Intelligence, a consultancy firm, showed that 79% of respondents prefer to buy fine wine on the internet than at the cellar door.

According to Natasha Rastegar, the Australia and New Zealand manager for Wine Intelligence, this is because buying wine online offers convenience and more opportunities to secure better discounts.

Wine Quarterly report  


Rabobank has recently released its Global Wine Quarterly Q4 report. This document indicates that whilst the growth rates of online wine sales vary across the world, they have one thing in common. They outpace growth in traditional retail markets around the planet by a country mile.  City A.M reported that this observation made by Rabobank in its Global Wine Quarterly Q4 report applies to the UK. The report suggested that total wine sales in this country expanded 3.5% in the first quarter of 2015. However online wine sales grew by a staggering 11% within the same span of time. 

Influence of millennials 


This begs the question, why are we buying more wine online? The Rabobank report attributed this rise to millennials; consumers aged between 18 and 29. Millennials are an “increasingly wine-drinking demographic,” and this is a vital reason why online wine sales recorded such rapid growth in the first three months of this year.  The influence of the millennial market isn’t just restricted to the UK. The US is thirsty for wine, with experts predicting that American wine consumption will increase 11% from 2014-2018.

David Trone, owner of US wine chain Total Wine and More, argued that this rise in American wine consumption will be driven by the country’s 77 million millennials. He suggested that 18-29 year olds are “less risk averse, more sophisticated on food and wine, (and) well-travelled.” 

Buy wine online 


If you want to see why millennials are set to raise American wine consumption, and why UK 18-29 year olds are driving online wine sales, check out the Ideal Wine Company’s product list. You can buy the Antinori Tignanello Toscana IGT 1990, a standout vintage, from us for only £331 per bottle!